


The Saga of Hunk and Lance's Friendship

by genericfanatic



Series: The Saga of Friendship [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, klance will mostly be in crushes and MAYBE eventually canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-09-17 08:04:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9312818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genericfanatic/pseuds/genericfanatic
Summary: From meeting to saving the universe, through crushes and strife, Hunk and Lance have always had each other's backs.Or do they?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUNK
> 
> I wish I could say I got this out to time with the birthday, but I meant to get this started a week ago, and here we are. 
> 
> Anyway, this should in theory be SHORTER than Shiro and Keith's, but we'll see what plot bunnies happen and how much of the story I can get out before season 2. 
> 
> They're both like, 13 in this chapter
> 
> TW for biphobia just in this first chapter.

Henry Garrett was beginning to regret his life decisions. He could have stayed in his hometown for high school, waited to become an engineer in college. But the Garrison had sent him these pamphlets and his school counselor kept talking about what a great career move it was and he had just gotten swept up in it.

Honestly, what had sold him was the engines he would get to work on. They were supposedly the best engines in the world, as they were used on the space ships heading out to explore the solar system. The idea of actually GOING into space was…well, lets just say his anxiety was well cultivated.

So here he was, miles from home, missing his parents and his sister, and a cadet so he hadn’t actually gotten a chance to use or even see the really cool engines. Not to mention, he was kinda shy. Like he said, well cultivated anxiety. 

That made it incredibly surprising, then, when at lunch a boy his age put a hand on the table leaning in an awkward pose. “Hey…Hunk,” He said, grinning widely and his eyebrows moving faster than what should be allowed, “You’re one of the engineers right? Is there a magnet in your pants? Cause I’m attracted to your buns of steel.”

Henry stared at him, his spoonful of tomato soup halfway to his mouth. What? The boy was staring at him as though he expected an answer. “We’re not allowed to take magnets outside the classroom.”

The boy’s face fell slightly, and Henry was about to apologize (for what he was unsure, but he didn’t want to upset anyone,) when the boy started again, “Sorry Hunk, I guess it wasn’t a magnet after all, it was a mirror, ‘cause I can really see myself in them.”

Henry blinked at him again, trying to figure out what the boy was saying like he was reading hieroglyphics. “My…my name is Henry, not Hunk…”

Again, the boy looked frustrated, but kept smiling. Henry shrunk a little, cursing his large size that he couldn’t shrink down and away from this conversation. Still, the boy tried one more time, “That’s a nice name. Is it alien? ‘Cause you are outta this world!”

Henry stared up into his blue eyes, silent. “It’s…a common name….”

The boy hung his head, looking defeated, “Forget it.” Just as Henry was about to apologize, the boy walked away saying, “Why are all the hot ones straight?”

Henry watched him leave, then put it out of his mind and kept eating. 

Hours later, he sat up out of bed, and said to himself, “Wait, was he hitting on me?”

His roommate muttered something about shutting up and so Hunk settled down. 

 

The boy’s name was Lance McClain. 

Ever since…the incident…Henry had been watching Lance. He was a pilot, which is why Henry didn’t know him before. Also, it seemed Henry’s experience with Lance was not unique, several boys in his class spoke of his bad pickup lines. Several of the girls too, which seemed to be quite the source of controversy. 

“Hey, Stacy,” Lance said, leaning up against a wall as Henry was passing, “You’re from Tennessee, right? ‘Cause you’re the only ten I see!”

Stacy gave him a onceover and looked thoroughly unimpressed, “Lance, aren’t you gay?” 

Lance looked surprised, “I, uh,” He said, “I thought I was, but…it was just like…a phase, you know?”

Stacy rolled her eyes, “Lance, that’s insulting. Being gay isn’t a ‘phase.’ Are you homophobic or something?”

Lance blinked, surprised, “What? No, no, not at all. I just…I like girls, is all.”

“Are your parents against it?” Stacy asked, “Are you trying to pass as straight for their approval?”

Lance shook his head more, “My parents and I are fine, Stacy, I just—“

“I’m not going to be your beard, Lance,” Stacy said, “So leave me alone.”

Lance sighed, dejected as Stacy walked away. 

 

That wasn’t all, though. Henry was sitting behind a group of students at lunch which he referred to as ‘the popular kids table.’ They weren’t like…ACTUALLY teen movie level popular, but it was some guys who were all friends and some girls who were all friends and the guys and the girls were boyfriend and girlfriends. 

He didn’t MEAN to overhear, really. They just…weren’t being particularly quiet. That’s on them, if you think about it, “You would not BELIEVE what happened today,” one of them, Jeremy, he thought, said, “Our teacher had us split into partners, and that Lance guy comes RIGHT up to me to be my partner. Like, NO sense of personal space.”

Some of the others laughed. Finally, one of the girls (Jenny?) said, “Aw, he’s just trying to be your friend.”

“More likes he wants your ass,” Jeremy’s friend (Mike?) said.

“Don’t tell me you don’t like him ‘cause he’s gay,” Mary said.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, “I have no PROBLEM with the fact he’s gay. It just means he can’t be friends with me, like, guys and girls can’t be friends without…you know…”

His girlfriend, Jenny, rolled her eyes, “I hope that doesn’t mean you have your eyes on Mary or Ellen?”

He smirked, “Only you babe,”

It was Mary and Ellen’s turn to roll their eyes, “Actually, that gives me a thought,” Ellen said, “What if he really ISN’T gay?”

Henry was trying to subtly look at them over his shoulder, but what caught his eye wasn’t the gossiping teens—it was the boy sitting at the table behind them. Lance was there…he was right THERE and the group was still talking about him. Did they not notice? Or did they just not care?

“What do you mean?” Mike asked.

“What if he’s faking so he can get close to girls? I know I’ve seen a TV show like that.”

Maybe Lance wasn’t paying attention. Maybe he couldn’t hear them. 

“That sounds too devious for Lance,” Mary said, “Don’t you remember what Stacy said? He’s just confused, or, he wants to go back in the closet or something.”

Henry subtly got up, pretending to go for napkins but secretly going to see Lance’s reaction.

“Then why don’t YOU be his lab partner?” Jeremy said.

Oh, Lance could hear them, alright. 

“Uh, maybe I will, once he actually figures out who the hell he is and what he wants,”

He was crying.

“Alright, that’s it,” Henry said, turning on all of them. The entire group shut up and looked at him. Lance did too. “Does the word ‘bisexual’ mean ANYTHING to any of you?” They stared blankly, “Pansexual? Anything? It means he doesn’t goddamn HAVE to choose if he doesn’t want to, he can like guys, girls, whoever he wants. And if you’re worried on him hitting on you,” He looked at Lance, “He has better taste than that.” 

The group blinked in horror at him. Lance blinked as well, but in amazement. “C’mon,” He said. Lance hesitated for half a second before grabbing his tray of food and following Henry as he got his own food, “And you can be MY partner for the project,” He said loudly enough for the group to hear him, guiding Lance to a table far away from them. 

Henry went back to eating. Lance was kind of sitting in shock. He looked at Henry, but quickly looked away, all his bravado gone. “So…” Lance said. “You’re…the Hunk guy, right?”

“My name’s Henry,” He said, still eating. The truth of what he had just done was kind of dawning on him and he felt his anxiety creeping up again. What if he had been presuming things and Lance didn't ACTUALLY want anything to do with him?

Lance nodded, “Cool cool, coolcoolcool,” Lance took a hesitant bite of his food. “So…you think I’m bisexual?”

Henry looked up. At least Lance didn't seem angry, “Well, I mean, that’s really up to you,” Hunk said, “But, if you like girls and guys…that sounds like one of my moms, and she’s bisexual, so…” He shrugged.

Lance kept staring at Henry. “ONE of your moms?”

Henry nodded, “She married a woman, but that doesn’t mean she’s not attracted to men.”

Lance smiled at him, “I’d like to meet her someday,” Henry smiled back at him. ““So, DO you want to go on a date with me?”

Hunk swallowed, nervous, “I am straight, it’s just my parents are gay.” Henry said, trying to still sound kind.

“Damn.” Lance sighed. He didn't seem offended or crushed, “Still, I think you really are a Hunk.”

Henry snorted, “You are definitely the first person to ever call me that.”

“It suits you!” Lance said, “Henry the Hunk. Or just ‘Hunk.’”

Henry shrugged his shoulders, “I’ve...I've never had a nickname before.” He hadn't had anyone to give him nicknames since coming to the Garrison, but that sounded pathetic.

Lance beamed, “Well, you got one now, Hunk.” 

Henry mulled it over in his brain, “Yeah, alright. I can live with that. Just don’t call me that in front of my parents, please.”

Lance laughed, “Alright, alright.” He smirked. “So…we’re friends now?”

‘Hunk’ shrugged, “I guess if you wanna be.” Lance nodded eagerly, “Okay then. Friends.”

Lance shook his hand, “Friends.”

“So…do you wanna nickname too?”

“Technically Lance already is a nickname, so I’m good.”

“Lance is a nickname? For what, Lancelot?”

“…”

“Oh my god is your name seriously Lancelot??”

“Shut up!”


	2. Snack Runs and Scarves.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk is anxious and Lance has a new crush.

“Lance….we’re gonna get caught.”

“Sure, if you keep acting like that.” Hunk’s eyes went wide as saucers. Lance’s shoulders dropped. “Sorry, that was mean. But look, we’re in a mini-mart, not doing drugs or something. It’s totally fine.”

“It is NOT fine,” Hunk whispered harshly, hopefully quiet enough the cashier didn’t hear. She was caught up in a magazine. “We’re not supposed to leave the Garrison for ANY reason after hours! Or at all!”

“You said you wanted some ingredients,” Lance said, picking up and comparing the types of flour, “We both know the stuff they have at those excuses for kitchens is terrible. Not that this is much better,” He said reading the nutrition facts, “But it will be at least edible.”

“But we…” Hunk swallowed, “We’re really not supposed to be here…”

Lance looked up and put the flour down, gripping one of Hunk’s shoulders, “Hey, breathe with me for a sec.” Lance took a deep breath in. Hunk hesitated, but then mimicked him. Lance then breathed out. They did that for a few more seconds until Hunk’s heart stopped racing, “If you really wanna go, we can go. But, we are here already, so if you want we can pay for some stuff quickly first, and THEN head back.”

Hunk thought about it for a moment. Breaking the rules made his stomach feel queasy, but when Lance insisted on going out, he wasn’t just going to let him do it himself. 

Lance leaned in, “Midnight cookies~~”

“Alright, alright,” Hunk said, sighing, “Lets just hurry up and get them and get out of here.”

Lance nodded, putting the flour in his basket and went down the aisle. Hunk grabbed a roll of duct tape and a can of WD-40 for good measure—some of his machines could really use it.

Lance was getting a thrill from the rule-breaking as they sneaked back into the dormitories. Hunk was continually doing his breathing exercises, though he was pretty sure his heart stopped at some point between climbing over the fences and ending up in the Garrison kitchenette. 

“That was so much fun!” Lance said, practically vibrating. Hunk rolled his eyes as he put the ingredients down on the counter. “Come on, didn’t you have just a LITTLE fun?”

Hunk sighed, “I’m glad to have these,” Hunk admitted, “And once my jitters go away, I’ll make pancakes.”

“You need a back massage?” Lance offered, instantly transforming into the Caring Friend™ “I can get your anxiety meds,” 

“No, no,” Hunk said, waving him down. “I’m okay, really.” He took a deep breath and pulled out a bowl to start mixing. 

Lance watched him from the one tiny chair in the kitchen, “You need any help?”

“Nah,” Hunk said, calmer with every second, “Not enough space. Could use the company though!”

Lance chuckled. “That I can do,” He said, “Gimme one minute.” 

"Grab my mixer while you're there!" he called after Lance. Lance waved, acknowledging him. 

Lance walked out and came back with a ball of yarn and needles, and an honest to god pair of reading glasses. Oh, and Hunk's mixer, if you could call it a mixer, It was an invention of Hunk's own design, all he had to do was put it in the bowl and it would perfectly mix the ingredients. Sorta like a blender...but better, Hunk said. Lance handed the mixer to Hunk, put the glasses on and started working on knitting something. Hunk giggled, “What?”

“It’s just…” Hunk giggled again, “Your ability to transform from a delinquent teenager into a 70 year old grandmother is astounding.” Hunk laughed louder as he felt the ball of yarn hit the back of his head. “I’m not picking that up,” He said, as Lance reluctantly scooped the yarn off the kitchen floor. “So, what are you making?”

“A scarf,” He said. 

Hunk raised his eyebrows, “Ooooh, a SCARF eh?” They lived in the desert, there was 0 practical need for scarves, though some liked them for fashion. Thus, they were Lance’s favorite thing to give to significant others. “Who’s it for?”

Lance smirked, flushing slightly, “Cute guy in my piloting class.” 

Hunk thought back on Lance’s various pining rants. Lance had a crush on a lot of people. Hunk wasn’t sure how he kept it up. He cycled through…guy…piloting class… “The one with the hair?” Lance nodded, his eyes getting that dreamy look, “I thought you said it was a mullet.”

“Hey, don’t insult my future boyfriend’s mullet.” Lance said, pointing his needles at him. “You know, its like…vintage. A callback to a simpler time.”

“Sure,” Hunk said, continuing to sir. “Whatever you say, man." Lance stuck his tongue out at Hunk, "You know, I could PROBABLY make a cool knitting machine that'd cut the time to make those in half.

Lance shook his head, "Oh you engineers and your newfangled inventions. That takes all the heart out of it! My scarves are made with love."

"At least you've stopped with the horrible pick up lines. More or less." Hunk said, watching his mixer in the bowl.

Lance stuck his tongue out again, “At LEAST I actually ask people out.” 

“I would ask people out!” Hunk said, “I’m just a bit more picky than you are.”

Lance fake gasped and clutched his chest, “Are you saying I have low standards?!”

Hunk rolled his eyes, “Lance, you literally have a whole other gender to choose from.”

Lance sighed, “True, true. Girls are so pretty, though. You could always ask out Tanya. She’s nice and sweet, like you.”

“But I don’t WANT to ask out Tanya.”

“What’s wrong with Tanya?”

Hunk started putting drops of batter onto a greased pan, “Nothing’s WRONG with Tanya, she’s just not my type.” Lance raised an eyebrow, unfamiliar with the idea of ‘types’ beyond ‘attractive,’ “She’s…small. Like, very small. And nothing’s wrong with that, of course, it just makes me feel…big.”

“You are big,” Lance said, brows furrowed. Hunk gave him a look. “I don’t mean it as an insult! You just…you have more of you to love.”

Hunk sighed, “Not everyone feels that way.”

Hunk only heard the sound of Lance putting his knitting project down to find a pair of arms wrapped around it. Hunk jumped for only a moment as he felt Lance’s head bury between his shoulder blades, “Don’t you ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER listen to those kinds of people, Hunk. You are a beautiful and glorious sunfish and are shaped like a friend and the best hug giver I’ve ever met.”

Hunk chuckled at the list of epithets Lance said. “It’s fine, Lance,” He picked the tray up and headed to the oven, Lance hanging onto him. “I’m FINE.”

“You beautiful spinster…” Lance said, his voice muffled by Hunk’s shirt, “I will find you love.”

Hunk put the cookies in the oven. “Lance. I’m not going to find anyone when everyone assumes the two of us are dating.”

Lance stood straighter, hooking his chin over Hunk’s shoulder, “Ain’t real friendship until someone thinks its gay.” Hunk sighed, “Kidding, kidding, you had your shot with me. Now I’m Mullet Boy’s.”

“You still have to ask him out first.”

“Right!” He said, leaping up and grabbing his knitting project again. “You know, this guy,” His voice had changed key. He wanted something, “He’s the top pilot in the class.”

“Cool,” Hunk said, waiting to see where Lance was going with this. 

Lance nodded, “Everyone expects he’s going into fighter class.”

Ah. THAT’S where he was going. “Lance, we’ve talked about this,”

“No we haven’t, we’ve never talked about Mullet boy becoming a fighter pilot.”

“We’ve talked about YOU being a fighter pilot,” Hunk said, “Which is fine, but that doesn’t mean I want to be a fighter engineer.”

“I don’t know if they’re called that…”

“Lance…”

“Come ON,” Lance said, eyes wide, “You know you’ll get in, you’re better than some of the engineers they have out there already. You’d be amazing, they could really use someone with your skills!”

“And I’m sure the cargo fleet could use my skills as well,” Hunk said, “Besides, what about my motion sickness? Or did you forget about that.”

Lance waved his hand, “You can take medicine for that. Besides,” Lance said, “If you were in the fighter program, we could be in it together…”

Hunk sighed. “Lance…you can join the fighter pilots without me. We’ll still see each other all the time.”

Lance drooped, “We wouldn’t be roommates anymore,” Lance said. Lance had quickly transferred into Hunk’s dorm after his roommate moved out, “And we wouldn’t be in any classes together, and who knows how much free time we’d get with all that extra work.” 

Hunk came over and patted Lance’s head. Lance leans into his stomach, “No matter what, we’ll be friends, okay? Don’t even worry about that.” Lance groaned. “Look, if it makes you happy, I’ll think about it. I’ll even talk about it with my moms.”

Lance picked his head up, “You would? Really?”

Hunk nodded, “Don’t get your hopes up though—“ It was already too late, Lance was wrapping his arms around Hunk. Hunk couldn’t help but smile, patting Lance on the back.

 

One week later, Hunk was sitting in his dorm when the door slammed open, with Lance on the other side, crying his eyes out. “Lance?” Hunk said, jumping up.

Lance was holding onto the scarf he had made, black and red, “I had a really bad day,” He said. 

Hunk wrapped his arms around him, and pulled him into the room, “What happened? Did he turn you down?” Lance was…technically used to rejection. It had never caused this level of a reaction. 

Lance sniffled, “Did he reject me..? That’s only the half of it!” He said, “First, he ignores me, then, he pushes me aside and tells me to stop wasting his time!” Lance sniffled again, clutching the scarf in his hands. “He was so rude and I just…I just wanted to ask him…”

“Oh, Lance,” Hunk said, “Look, he’s clearly not worth your time. You’ll get through this!”

“I really thought this one was going to be different…” Lance said, “We’re…we’re similar! I mean we’re both great pilots and…and he’s kinda on the outside of class and I’m…kinda on the outside and…I just…he’s so cool. And he’s so good. But I guess I’m just not…”

“Hey,” Hunk said, squeezing him, “Hey don’t even say that. You’re awesome.”

Lance kept sniffling and sniffling into Hunk’s shirt, “Then…then why won’t they let me into the fighter program?” He said. 

Hunk blinked, “What?”

Lance nodded, wiping his eyes, “That’s the OTHER half of my miserable day. I…I found out I got denied.” He cleared his throat, “Freaking KEITH was top of the list. Oh god he’s so perfect…” Lance sobbed a little more, “But now I’m on the waitlist. I’m…I’m stuck in cargo forever.”

“Oh, Lance,” Hunk said, “Look, its…its not the end of the world, and it certainly doesn’t determine your worth. You’re still awesome, and you’re going to be the BEST cargo pilot those people have ever seen. They don’t know what they’re missing.”

Lance nodded, trying to convince himself, but not quite succeeding. “I just…I really wanted to be a fighter pilot. That’s the whole reason I moved to the Garrison.”

“I know, buddy,” Hunk said, stroking his hair, “I know. It sucks.” Lance nodded again, and sobbed, “Just cry it all out.”

Lance did as told until his eyes were red and his throat was raw. Hunk grabbed him a glass of water, which he drank greedily, “There’s one bit of good news, I guess.” Lance said, “At least now we’ll be together in cargo.”

Hunk froze. “Uhh…yeah. Yeah, that’ll be great.”

Curse his inability to lie. Lance looked up at him. “Hunk?” He asked, “Is…something wrong?”

Hunk shook his head, “We can talk about it later, its no problem.”

“No,” Lance said, “What is it?”

Hunk sighed. “I…I got into the fighter program.” Lance was stunned, “I didn’t tell you before cause I wanted to surprise you! But… I guess that didn’t work out. Look,” He said, “I’ll drop out, someone else can take my place, we can still—“

“No,” Lance said, shaking his head. “No, I…I meant it when I said they could use you. And honestly, I think you’ll do well in the fighter program…” Lance took a shuddering breath to try and calm himself down, “You…you should stay.”

Hunk swallowed, “But…what about all those things you said…we won’t be roommates or anything, and—“

“But what you said was true too.” Lance said, “We’ll still be friends. No matter what.” 

Hunk sighed, and pulled Lance into another hug, “No matter what.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IDK man I just wanted these two being cute.   
> In Keith's defense, if you've read Keith and Shiro's piece on this, Keith was very anti-social at the time, and also, Lance is a terrible flirt. Like, literally, did you read the first chapter? He's trying, but he's still very much an immature teenage boy right now.


	3. I don't know, Lance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets kicked out of the Garrison, lending Hunk and Lance to live out their dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the first section of this chapter seems familiar, congratulations, you read my Shiro & Keith story. don't worry, you're not having deja vu. Or, you might be. Who knows. Certainly not the stranger over the computer. I'll go now. enjoy!

People around class tended to avoid eye contact with Keith, but today, people actively avoided him, as he lay hunched over his desk, eyes red. 

Everyone except Lance, of course. “Hey,” Lance said, approaching Keith at his seat, “Look, I know you were close with Shiro, so—“ That’s all Lance got out before Keith punched him in the gut. 

Lance stumbled back, and the teacher jumped up to where they stood in an instant. “Mr. Kogane!” He said, “That is unacceptable behavio—“ Keith got out of his seat and marched out of the classroom. Furious, his teacher followed him out. 

Hunk came up to pat Lance on the shoulder, “You okay?” Lance nodded. They and the rest of the class turned to the doorway Keith and the professor had disappeared behind, listening to what could at best be described as a loud conversation. 

Neither of them saw Keith for over a year.

 

“Seriously, man, are you okay?” Hunk said, “You’ve been weirdly pensive all day.”

“Hmm?” Lance said, as the two wandered the halls of the Garrison. “Oh, yeah. I just…”

“You just…what?” Hunk said.

“You think Keith is suspended?” He asked. “I mean, he’s gotten into issues before, and he’s always come back, but he wasn’t in class this morning.”

“You didn’t hear?” Hunk asked. Lance shook his head, “Apparently he got kicked out.”

“What?!” Lance said, “But…just for punching me? I didn’t make a report or anything, it’s not—I didn’t—“

“He apparently punched a few teachers too,” Hunk said, “Dude went on a rampage.” Lance stared out into space, processing the information. “I thought you hated him now?”

“I did!” Lance said, “I mean, I do. I just. He was clearly going through something, why didn’t his parents complain or anything?”

“I don’t know, Lance.”

Lance was silent for just a moment longer. “Did his parents pick him up already? Is he still here?”

“I don’t KNOW, Lance.” Hunk said, “But, there is one good thing to come out of all this.”

“What?”

Hunk pointed at the board behind Lance. Lance paused, not even realizing they had come up on it. He stared at it for a moment before recognizing his own name. Then, his eyes went up to the top of the list and he read ‘Junior Fighter Pilots.’

Lance’s mood shifted instantly, “I made it! I’m a fighter pilot!” He started dancing as Hunk continued looking at the board, trying to ignore him. “Hasta la later, Keith!” He said, forgetting his concern completely.” He grinned wider noticing another note on the board, “And look, you’re my engineer!” 

“Cool.” Hunk said, happy that their dream was really happening, though a new rush of fear as ‘Oh god this is really happening’ washed over him, “Uh, can I do that from the ground?”

Lance gave him a look. He was not having this argument again. Ignoring him, he said, “And our communications officer is…who the heck is Pidge Gunderson?” He thought they knew all the cadets going into the fighting program. Maybe this Pidge was a transfer? 

“Right here,” A voice came from behind them and looked to see a short boy with big glasses looking up at them. 

Lance gave his best friendly grin, “Welcome to the team, Gunderson. I’m Lance, your fighter pilot.” Lance was trying to sound cool, but Hunk could tell he was 2 seconds from giggling. 

Quickly, he covered for his friend, offering a hand to his new teammate, “Hey, I’m Hunk.” He hadn’t introduced himself as ‘Henry’ in 3 years.

Lance was still running on adrenaline high of being fighter pilot + new friend, “We got a lot of great times ahead, so we should probably start bonding now. What do you say we sneak out, there’s this great pizza shop Hunk and I like, Pizza Planet, and its got this whole space theme and the waiters dress up like astronauts. Plus there are so many cute girls! And boys, not sure what your preference is.”

It became increasingly clear as he was talking that this ‘Pidge’ wasn’t paying him any attention. If there was one thing Lance hated, it was being ignored. He stared angrily at Pidge, not noticing until it was too late that Iverson was walking past. Quickly, he and Hunk put their hands up in salute.

Pidge breathed a sigh of relief once they were gone. Lance stared at him again, “Helloooo? Pizza? Girls? Astronauts?”

Pidge pushed past them, “Sorry, I don’t have time to mess around with you guys. See you in the simulator.”

Lance scowled, “What’s his problem?” 

“I don’t know, Lance,” Hunk repeated for what was possibly the billionth time. “Lets go get pizza.”

“I’m so glad I’ve turned you into a hardened criminal,” Lance smiled.

Hunk sighed, “Sneaking out of the Garrison doesn’t make me a hardened criminal. And you still do it too much.”

“You love it,” Lance said, resting his head on Hunk’s shoulder, “Don’t lie to me.”

Hunk grumbled but didn’t disagree.

“Hey Hunk,”

“Yeah?”

“I’m a fighter pilot!”

“Congrats, man.”

 

~1 year later~

“Hey, dude?” Hunk said, patting Lance on the back, “Are you okay? Iverson came down on you pretty hard today.”

Land sniffled, refusing to cry. “I’m fine…”

“Lance…” Hunk said, “You deserve to be a fighter pilot, don’t let them make you think different.” He swallowed, “Of course, you could always not try and make me puke in the simulator. That would be nice.”

That at least got Lance to chuckle. “There was no ‘try about it, Hunk,” Lance said, “And you got chewed out too.”

“Yeah, yeah, we all went through the grinder.” Hunk sighed, “You know, maybe Iverson was right,” Lance gave him a pained look, “Not about the insults or anything, just…maybe we’re not the most cohesive…group.”

Lance’s shoulders drooped, “But you and I are so in sync on so much stuff!” Lance said, “It’s Pidge…”

“I don’t know, Lance,” Hunk said, “I…kinda let you get away with a lot.”

Lance looked up at him, “I thought you had fun!”

“I do!” Hunk said, “Most of the time. Except now I have a criminal record…”

“School discipline record, not the same thing, but go on,”

“And I dunno! I just think we could work better as a team.”

Lance nodded slowly, “You’re right. You know what this means?”

“Oh no…”

“Bonding excursion!”

“Lance…I just said we sneak out too much…”

“C’mon, lets go get Pidge!”

Hunk sighed, “I’m going to regret this.” 

 

The next day he thought back on that moment while laying awake in his bed on a spaceship, “I fucking knew it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gettin into the show now. I guess I'll just have to...rewatch the whole first season to see good moments to insert chapters while I work on my Lance cosplay. Oh, the struggle. The struggle!
> 
> But I gotta prepare for Season 2 anyway


	4. Feelin' Yellow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its literally just the scene where they get the Yellow lion, but with extra bits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to combine this with the next one, but it got long, so I'll try and update early tomorrow.

“Hunk, your thinking so hard you’re giving ME a headache,” Lance said.

“Sorry…” Hunk mumbled, still thinking hard.

“Huuuunk,” Lance said, piloting the blue lion through the worm hole. 

“I’m sorry!” Hunk said, “I’ve never been asked to pilot an alien warship and save the universe before! This is a lot to process!”

“It’s not that bad,” Lance said, “Actually, its kinda fun! I feel like I’m living the dream!”

“I thought your dream was to become a fighter pilot,” Hunk said.

Lance shrugged, “I’m piloting and I’m fighting. So, that’s something.”

Hunk whined, “What if I throw up in my lion again? What if my lion doesn’t want me? What if I get there and don’t know how to fly it?”

“She’ll tell you how to fly,” Lance said, reassuring him. 

Hunk blinked at him, “I’m still confused. Is it a living thing, or a ship? Also, she’s a ‘she’ now?”

Lance sighed, “I don’t know, Hunk,” He smirked, “Tell you what, though, I bet its got a pretty cool engine for you to play around with.”

Hunk’s eyes went wide, and he froze, overwhelmed at the thought. He didn’t say anything, but Lance could hear his silent excitement. “We’re approaching the planet,” Lance said, smiling. 

“Uh-huh.” Hunk said, slowly grinning. “Hey, Lance, what’s that?” 

Lance looked, and as he did, alarms went up around him, and Blue told him what they were, “Enemy ships closing in!” A couple of ships came up to intercept them, and Lance screamed, turning the lion up and down to dodge the laser shots.

“Oh, no! No, no, no, no! Oh! Oh, no!” Hunk screamed as Lance desperately tried to get things under control. 

They felt the unmistakable rumble of getting shot and falling to the caverns below. They both screamed, in rather excellent harmony. 

“I thought Coran said these planets were peaceful!” Hunk screamed, clutching the inside of the Blue lion for support.

“Maybe ‘peaceful’ means something elset in Altean!” Lance responded, as he tried to control the lion he had just started learning to fly. ‘Blue, I could really use your help,’ he thought, and she flashed reassuringly into his mind as they straightened out and kept flying. 

Hunk recovered-ish, looking at the device Allura and Coran had given them, “According to the coordinates, we’re right on top of the Yellow Lion.” He looked up, “It’s below there, where they’re mining for the ore. They don’t even know the lion is there.” He was rambling, “Or maybe they just got here and they’re digging for the lion? What do you think, Lance?”

Lance was a bit busy trying to fly, shoot, and avoid being shot all at once, “Who cares? Just go get it! I’m dropping you down there.” He had wanted to land so they could both go, but nope, no no, too many scary alien ships.

“Me? Down there?” Hunk said, scared for his life, “No. No, no, no.” 

Lance typically had endless patience for Hunk’s anxiety but now was so not the time, “Yes, I’ll cover you!” He had meant to sound reassuring, but his irritation crept through.

“What if the Yellow Lion doesn’t work?” Hunk whined as Lance dived to the planet, “What if I can’t get in the mine? What if I start crying?” He was rambling AGAIN, “Too late. I’m already crying!”

“Sorry, no time for questions,” handholding was not on Lance’s agenda for this mission, and he ejected Hunk down onto the planet. 

He then stood guard at the mine’s entrance. He knew Hunk would be mad at him for that, but honestly, he did know better than Hunk sometimes, especially when Hunk was being scared and anxious for no reason. Well. Okay, maybe there was reason to be scared and anxious, but they were on a time crunch.

The ships had learned not to get too close to Blue for fear of being ripped to shreds. Lance could no longer dodge, and he could still shoot, but dammit, he didn’t have any maneuverability down here. He shot up to destroy them quickly so they could stop shooting.

Too late he realized the ships were purposefully trying to draw him out and away from the mine. “Oh no,” he said, pursuing them, but in slow motion he watched a missile fly down. He knew there was no weapon on him that could intercept it before it hit, “HUNK!” He cried out desperate that he could stop it, or warn Hunk or…something!

But he couldn’t. The missile hit the mine entrance in a fiery explosion and Lance couldn’t think. He couldn’t move. His skin went cold. ‘No,’ was the first thought that entered his mind, ‘no, no, this can’t be happening. I should never have left him down there, he was so scared and he was mad at me, I can’t believe I did that I left him, its all my fault, it’s all my—‘

A Galra ship fired at him, shaking him and making Blue jerk. Maybe…maybe he had gotten deep enough in the mine the missile hadn’t hit him. “Hunk, come on! Please, buddy!” He screamed as though Hunk could hear him and answer him.

He was so distracted, he got hit hard. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Going down! We’re going down!” Not only had he gotten his best friend killed, now he was going to die too! So much for living out his dream, going into space, fighting aliens! 

Blue skidded across the rocky surface of the planet. Lance kept fighting, even though he was in full panic mode. He thought he’d been in panic mode before, but that was nothing to this!

Missiles were incoming. This was it. He closed his eyes and thought one last ‘Sorry, Hunk,’ before they hit. 

Except, they didn’t. 

A lion, bigger then his own and sunshine yellow jumped in front of him, destroying 3 ships at once with a belly flop. Hunk’s voice came through the speaker, “You okay, Lance?”

Lance nearly cried from relief, “Hunk! I thought you were dead! You jumped in front of those shots to save my life!”

Hunk’s face appeared on his screen, “Well, actually, I was trying to get out of the way. Thankfully, what this lacks in speed it more than makes up for in armor. Man, can it take a beating!” 

Lance was about to literally cry and spew his apologies, when shots rang out, “We’ve got incoming!” Hunk said, now the one with confidence while Lance shook in fear. 

Allura’s face appeared next, “Paladins, please hurry back, I can’t hold the wormhole much longer.”

Lance smiled. His best friend was alive, he was alive, and they both had awesome mechanical lions. All was right with the universe yet again. “Lets get out of here!”

He shot for the sky, Hunk and his lion flying by his side. Well, spinning by his side. “Quit screwing around, Hunk! The wormhole is closing!” He just wanted to get back to the castle AWAY from freaky aliens and get them both where they could be safe and he could burn out the rest of this adrenaline. 

They met up in between their hangars as they made it back to the control room. Lance quickly pulled Hunk into a hug, “Don’t ever scare me like that again, dude.” 

Hunk chuckled, “Try and refrain from dropping me on alien planets, and we’ll see what I can do.”

“No promises,” Lance muttered into his jacket. 

Hunk patted him on the back, “Lance, you know I’m always up for some hugging, but…”

“Every part of you is in agony too?”

“EVERY part,” Hunk agreed, as they separated.

“Like,” Lance continued as they walked on, “Piloting has always been just like, sitting in a chair, not those intense G-forces.”

“At least you were only piloting,” Hunk said, “I had to roll on solid rock!”

Groaning and grunting they both went back to their friends.


	5. Slimeball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance plays a game on break and talks with Hunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kinda a lull chapter. I'm hoping to get out another chapter today since we're on crunch time for season 2.

They were on “break” from training. Quotation marks were important, as Allura didn’t believe in breaks that weren’t for eating or sleeping. But, with some very careful planning, Coran managed to distract her with castle repairs, while Shiro happened to end practice ‘early.’

Shiro would often go over as much information from the Altean computers as he could, trying to learn more about the universe, and more importantly, their enemy, the Galra. Pidge spent most of his time waiting outside the alien pods, as if that would make them come out faster.

Keith tended to wander the castle, try and get a grip on his surroundings, which is what he was doing when he found Lance crouched at a corner, giggling to himself. “Lance?”

Lance yelped, almost dropping the…something…in his hand, “Keith! You scared the Quiznak outta me!” 

“You really need to learn the actual definition of Quiznak if you’re going to keep using that term.” Lance rolled his eyes, crouching back down and returning his attention to the corner, “What are you doing, anyway?”

Lance smiled, “Playin’ a game with Hunk.” 

Keith nodded slowly, “Uh…huh. A game that involves…that?” Keith pointed at the green ball-shaped item in his hand. It was round, but rather lumpy and…kinda looked like it was melting.

“Mmmhmm!” Lance said, holding it up. Oh, god, it smelled, “This is Altean laundry detergent.”

Keith winced from it, “I’m not having that go anywhere near my clothes.”

“What? No!” Lance said, “No, this is what you get after you’ve washed your clothes, it like, absorbs all the terrible dirt and smells and…Keith, have you even done laundry since we got to the castle?” 

Keith blinked. “Uhhh….”

“Keith!”

“I lived in a desert! I’m not used to having to wash as much.”

Lance shook his head and muttered something about “even basic hygiene…”

“So,” Keith said, trying to change the subject, “What do you do with these…detergent things.”

Lance snapped back to reality, “Sneak attacks!” He said. Keith raised an eyebrow, “When the other is least suspecting, we throw these SMACK in their faces. They have to not see—or smell—it coming.”

Keith nodded, though he didn’t understand. “And that’s…fun?”

“I mean, it’s not fun to get hit,” Lance said, “But then you get to take your revenge!” 

“And THAT’S fun?” Keith repeated with different intonation.

“Yes, that’s fun, spoilsport,” Lance said rolling his eyes. Keith scowled at him. “Here, tell you what, why don’t you go this round?” Lance plopped the lumpy gooey ball in Keith’s hands.

Keith looked at it in disgust. “Ew,” He said.

“You have no right to complain about disgusting things when you haven’t done laundry in…however long we’ve been here.” Lance said, but was interrupted by footsteps coming down the hallway, “He’s coming! Throw it throw it throw it!” 

Keith had been glad to hear his impulsive acts were going to be an asset when flying the Red Lion, because they’d honestly gotten him in more trouble than anything. Kicked out of Foster Homes. Kicked out of the Garrison. Throwing a ball of mystery alien slime into Allura’s face. That kinda stuff. 

Lance and Keith watched in slow motion as the lumpy green ball fell off Allura’s face, leaving little bits of green slime on her cheeks and forehead. The world stopped as she was stunned, not entirely sure what had happened, while Keith and Lance were horrified. 

Lance broke the spell by laughing so hard he had to clutch his stomach. Keith in turn stared at Lance horrified, while Allura’s shock turned quickly to anger. “Lance, Keith,” She started, but Keith interrupted.

“It was his fault! Its his game!”

“What!” Lance shouted, “You threw the ball, dude!”

“You said it was Hunk!”

“I thought it was! You could have checked, though!”

“You were pressuring me! What with your ‘throw it throw it’ chant!”

“Why are neither of you in training?!” Allura shouted, wiping the slime off her face. They both froze. They had forgotten that Allura wasn’t let in on the idea they were getting breaks. “This has Shiro and Coran written all over it.”

“Wait, now, Princess—“

“We were just messing around and—“

They both stopped talking as Allura grabbed them by their short ears and dragged them to the control room. 

5 minutes later they were back on the training deck, exhausted but moving under Allura’s watchful eye. “Nice going, you two,” Pidge muttered. 

Pidge watched Shiro guide Keith through the invisible maze, while Hunk and Lance sat back. “Where were you?” Lance said, “I thought we were going to play a game of slime ball.”

“Sorry, dude,” Hunk said, “Coran asked me to help out with some repairs. This castle has engines like I couldn’t even imagine! Like you said, living the dream.”

Lance sighed, “I gotcha, man.” He said, “I just…wanted to hang out.” 

Hunk patted him on the back, “No worries, dude, we can hang out. If Allura doesn’t kill us.” He then smiled, as only Hunk did when he wanted to tease Lance, “Besides you ended up hanging out with Keith, so that’s something.”

Lance rolled his eyes so hard it hurt, “I should never have told you my crush was coming back.” 

Hunk shrugged, “I’m your best friend, buddy, I think I would have known anyway.”

“You’re forgetting a very important point, though,” Lance said, “He turned me down already.”

“So did Allura,” Hunk said, “And that hasn’t stopped you.”

“Technically she hasn’t turned me down,” Lance said, “The first time she was just confused after being frozen for 10,000 years. Every time after that Shiro’s stepped in so I can’t get a good read on her.”

It was Hunk’s turn to roll his eyes, “For a person that’s pretty social when it comes to it, you’re bad at reading body language,” He smirked, “Which brings me to my next point, as we’ve been getting to know our dear friend Keith, I’ve started to realize something: He’s not too good with the whole emotions thing.” 

“Astounding deduction, Sherlock,” Lance said.

“Shut up, Wetson,” Hunk said. Lance quirked an eyebrow, “Your thing is water. Wet…Watson, anyway. The point is: what if he didn’t know you were hitting on him?”

Lance blinked at him, “I gave him a scarf, said it would match his really nice outfit, and that the outfit would look better on my floor.”

“Yeah, see,” Hunk said, “I know you THINK you’re being clear, but I didn’t know they were pick-up lines when we first met. I think it’s better if you’re just straight with people.” Lance stared at him in disbelief, “Okay, if you’re just BI with people.”

“Thank you,” Lance said, “And even if he didn’t get it, he was still extremely rude to me. I hate him.”

Hunk sighed, “No you don’t.”

Lance grumbled, “Look, Hunk, I think the universe is better off if I just date Allura and then Keith can go kiss a cactus or something.”

“Alright, alright,” He said, “I’ll drop it. For now.”

“Thank you!” Lance said as Keith came out of the maze. Keith took his helmet off, shaking his mullet free like a model in slow motion. 

Hunk watched Lance, waited until the boy realized he was staring. Lance tore his gaze from Keith’s hair, noticing Hunk’s amused look. “Shut up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna sprinkle in some angst soon. Its Hunk and Lance though, so, nothing like the angst of Shiro and Keith. Their friendship is so much fun to write....


	6. Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance makes a mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I HAVE CHANGED THE ENDING OF THIS CHAPTER, PLEASE RE-READ IF YOU ONLY READ THE FIRST VERSION. I'll make a note at the start of the next chapter too.

Several things had changed when Lance awoke from the med pod. Pidge was a girl. The castle was a ship. Keith was the one looking for Lance’s attention for once, which filled Lance with a few conflicting emotions. 

The most interesting change, though, seemed to be Hunk’s attitude. Gone was his scared and anxious friend who would run from danger. Well, not gone, but he seemed to have so much more…purpose. Lance was like a proud mama. Look at his friend, all full of justice and righteousness. And he believed Hunk when he said he was in it because he saw what the Galra were doing up close, but also…there was this look in his eye Lance hadn’t seen before. It made him even prouder. 

Of course, that all went out the window when Nyma stepped into the picture. “I would love a tour from one of the knights. But, I guess the big one is in charge, huh? You have to obey his orders?”

For a second, Lance thought she meant Shiro, who was the leader and therefore the one to give orders. But he saw where she was looking. “Who Hunk?” Lance loved the guy, but Lance was the leader of their missions at the Garrison, the one who took them on adventures. “I don’t have to listen to him!” They were equal partners…which meant neither one of them HAD to do what the other said. Hunk may be more confident now, but Lance knew just as much as he did. 

1 hour later

“Lance? Are you alright? What’s going on?”

“Well, I’m kind of chained to a tree.” 

“I knew it!” Hunk said, frustrated.

“And I think Nyma and Rolo just stole the Blue Lion.”

“I KNEW IT!”

Hunk went on a rant for a while about knowing that Nyma and Rolo were no good and how he’d figured it out and Lance just banged his head against the tree he was stuck to. 

He waited patiently for Keith to drop off his lion. When they reconnected, he felt Shiro’s glare. It was a glare he was familiar with, several of his teachers had a similar one when he broke the rules. Before that, his mother would wear that expression when she wanted to yell at him but they were in public. 

Shiro, the adult that he was, waited until they had taken off from the moon, leaving Nyma, Rolo, and Beezur far behind. “I know, I know,” Lance said, “I shouldn’t have trusted Nyma, and I shouldn’t have taken her on a joyride.”

“You’re damn right you shouldn’t have!” 

The yelling hadn’t come from Shiro. It had come from Hunk. Lance and the other paladins turned to him, and he looked angrier than Lance had ever seen him. “This is not the Garrison anymore, Lance, we don’t have time for your goddamn adventures!” Hunk stepped closer to Lance, who’d rather get exploded again than be here right now, “Because of you, we had to go get your lion back, and you’re lucky we were able to! What if we didn’t make it before the lion got turned over to the Galra, huh? What if she had KILLED you? After all the trouble we went through to gather Voltron together, you nearly handed Zarkon 1/5 of the most powerful weapon in the universe on a silver platter!”

“Hunk,” Shiro said, trying to calm him down.

But Hunk was not finished. “And on top of that, you’ve taken time out we could have used to help free Shay’s people! They are in dire need, what can I do to make you get that? But no, a pretty girl is way more important than saving a planet!”

“Uh…Hunk?” Pidge asked, looking between Hunk and Lance like a volleyball tournament. 

“Its time to grow up!” Hunk yelled, ignoring the others, “I can’t be the one who picks up after you anymore!”

When he stopped yelling the ship fell into eerie silence. No one had seen Hunk that angry, and no one had expected it would be at Lance. Lance’s lip wobbled. Hunk knew that look well. It meant Lance wanted to cry but he wouldn’t in front of people. Usually when Lance needed to cry he’d run to Hunk. Hunk had a feeling that wouldn’t be happening today.

“I’m sorry,” Lance said in a quiet voice none of them would have been able to hear if they all weren’t dead silent. “I’m…I’m really sorry.”

Hunk took a few deep breaths calming himself down. He knew he had been too hard on Lance, but he also knew everything he had said had been true. That made it hurt more. 

Allura cleared her throat, “We’ll take a direct course to the Balmera. We should be there in a matter of hours. Everyone, rest up so you can be fresh for battle.”

Lance was first out the door. Keith ran after him, “Lance—“

“Don’t,” Lance said. He didn’t know if Keith was there to offer comfort or even more condemnation, but he couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t handle anything right now, “Just…not now.” And he went to his room to cry. 

“Hunk,” Shiro grabbed his shoulder before he left, “we need to talk.”

Hunk sighed, “I know, I know I shouldn’t have yelled at him—“

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Shiro confirmed. 

“But Shiro, when you see the Balmera—“

“You already have my sympathy for the Balmerans,” Shiro said, “I even agreed with you that Lance was out of line. But I don’t think this was about that.”

Hunk frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

Shiro sighed, “I know you take being a paladin seriously. I do too. And I know Lance sometimes…doesn’t.” Shiro took a deep breath, “But you two are best friends. Something is wrong between you two. I don’t know what it is, but I think you need to figure it out.”

Hunk thought about it, unsure of what problem could be between them. That was going to bug him, but he needed to save Shay first. He put it to the back of his mind and went to go get some rest. 

 

By the time they reached the Balmera, Lance’s eyes were dry and a smile was back on his face. Hunk could see it was a cover. Pretending everything was fine and blatantly ignoring a situation was Lance’s favorite way of handling unwanted emotions. 

Hunk knew that was what he was doing, but he still hadn’t figured out what was ‘wrong’ between the two of them, and so he played along with the idea everything was okay. He added onto Lance’s joke about bad gun noises. Besides, they were too busy with the Balmera to have a heart-to-heart. And besides THAT, Hunk figured Lance probably needed some time. Alright, the more reasons Hunk put on it, the more they sounded like excuses, but they were Hunk and Lance, best bros for life, friends no matter what happened. Hunk hoped. 

Still, maybe that was why Shiro had Lance and Keith team up instead of the typical Lance and Hunk. 

And despite his calm, casual demeanor, Lance did seem to be trying to make it up, in some small way. He was the one to use his ice and help Hunk save the Balmera from a falling tower…thing. 

Lance was also the one who stopped Keith from possibly damaging the Balmera, though Hunk didn’t find out about that until later. 

After Shay and the Balmera were saved, Hunk felt a weight lifted from his shoulders—and a new one added on. 

With a pointed look from Shiro, he went up to Lance. “Um,” he said, getting his attention from a chat with Coran. With a nod, Coran promised to talk to Lance more later and walked off. “I…I wanted to say—“

“You don’t have to apologize, Hunk,” Lance said.

Hunk blinked. “But I—“

“I know, you were stressed, you didn’t mean it,” Lance said, shrugging, “It happens.”

“So, we’re good?” Hunk said.

Lance smiled and play punched Hunk’s arm. “Yeah, man, of course we’re good.”

Then why did it feel like they still weren’t good?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: This is why you shouldn't update chapters right after you write them. I like this ending better than the last. This is NOT the resolution of the sprinkle of angst, but it makes me feel better about leaving the angst alone for the remainder of the show (er, first season of the show)
> 
> I think next chapter we'll move beyond Season 1 and I'll make up shit for the start of season 2. 
> 
> Honestly, there might not be more left here, so, I'm probably going to see what I can chug out tomorrow. We'll see.


	7. Mermaid World Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk and Lance crash land on a planet with mermaids and have radically different views on the experience. (spoiler free for season 2, I promise)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT: This fic (and series) is OFFICIALLY diverting from Season 2. I had wanted this chapter written before the season even premiered but then I got hit with the depression stick. HOWEVER because I did write, or at least plan out, a lot of this fic before the season came out, they are on a planet with mermaids because, well, thats what was shown in the trailers. Once I saw the season I tried to differentiate between the two. Mostly. there are SOME similarities, but this chapter is pretty spoiler free.

“I don’t like this,” Hunk said, pacing. 

“Lighten up, Hunk,” Lance said relaxing on the cave floor. 

Hunk grumbled. This whole think stank, and it was more than the fish smell. Hunk and Lance had crash landed on a water planet, and had been immediately surrounded by Mersians, or as Lance liked to call them, ‘Mermaids.’ They weren’t much like the fairy tails they heard as a kid, practically reptilian with bright scales covering their body. They had long shimmering tails, but human-like faces and arms. Once they had told them they were Paladins, the Mersians set them up in an underwater cave that they could breath in, and promised to send out a beacon for their ship. 

Lance had smiled and said “Thank you,” bowing as well as he could underwater to the Queen. Hunk…well, lets just say he’s heard people say they’d help before. 

“I think we should get out of here,” Hunk said, “Get our lions and fly out—“

“To where, Hunk?” Lance said, “I don’t know if you knew this, but space is huge. We have no idea where in the universe everyone else is. The mermaid’s beacon is the best way of finding them again.”

Hunk grumbled. “I still don’t like it,” He said, “How do we know we can trust the Merisians?”

“Dude, they’ve been super nice to us,” Lance said, “Look at this stuff, the food, the…well, okay, the ‘bed’ they got for us is basically just sand, but nobody’s perfect. Plus, they’re sending out that beacon thing.”

“They SAID they’re sending out that beacon thing,” Hunk said. Lance rolled his eyes and stretched. “You just like Prince Florian~” Hunk said, using a sing song voice on the Prince’s name. 

Lance blushed, “W-what, no!” He cleared his throat, “He’s just a fish I’ve come to admire very much.” 

Hunk rolled his eyes at him, “You’re just copying that from when I said that about Shay.”

“Aha!” Lance said, “so you admit you like Shay! Excellent, that was my plan all along to get you to admit it. So. Success.”

Hunk sighed, “Keith would be so sad to see you crushing on someone else.”

Lance chuckled nervously, “W-what?” He said, “You…you think he would?” Hunk raised an eyebrow, “I mean, not that I CARE, obviously, because I’m over him…completely, so…it doesn’t matter.”

“Sure.” Hunk said, “If you don’t like Keith, then why not go for Florian? I thought he was your ‘type.’”

“I don’t have a type,” Lance said, “I just like pretty people.”

“Who’s pretty?” a voice came from behind them. 

Lance jumped, and they turned to see Prince Florian’s head poking out from under the surface of the water. He was a navy blue mermaid, his scales almost blending into the water itself, but a closer look revealed his long tail trailing underneath him. 

“Uhh…” Lance said, looking between Hunk and Florian quickly, “You are, Prince Charming,” He said, using his flirting voice, but there was something more hesitant about it.

It was hard to tell if Florian blushed, but he was certainly flustered, “It seems to me you’re the charming one, Paladin,” 

Lance blinked, not entirely believing that his flirting seemed to actually be working. Still, he leaned down until his feet went into the pool. “What can we do you for, your highness?”

Florian cleared his throat, “Actually, I was just…wondering…if maybe you would like a tour of our palace.” He smiled at Lance, but then looked over at Hunk, “both of you, of course…” Though it couldn’t be clearer he wanted to spend some time with Lance.

Hunk grimaced at Floran, “I think we’d prefer to stay here.”

“What?” Lance said, “Just a minute ago you were grumpy about having to stay here.” Hunk glared at him, “Fine, you stay here, I’M going,” Lance put his helmet on. 

“That’s a bad idea,” Hunk practically hissed at him, “Remember Nyma?” 

That was the wrong thing to say. Lance glared at him, the memories of their argument resurfacing. Hunk felt a little guilty, but not enough not to be annoyed with Lance’s decision making here. 

Without saying another word, Lance dove into the water, Florian quickly following and Hunk was left alone in the dripping cave. 

 

Lance was right about one thing, Hunk DIDN’T want to be stuck here in this cave, but he didn’t really want Florian taking him somewhere either. 

Maybe he could just have a look around…see what these guys were really up to…

He put his helmet on and swam out. He unfortunately stuck out like a sore thumb, but years of sneaking around with Lance had given him at least a little experience in the ways of stealth. 

What he really wanted to do was find this ‘beacon’ the Queen had promised she sent out. There was no visual confirmation, and unfortunately, Hunk wasn’t quite as talented with hacking as Pidge was. He was more of a ‘hardware’ kinda guy, he liked building things with his hands. So, there was no way he could just hack into their systems and find out. 

His best bet was getting to yellow and scanning the palace to see if he could get any readings or signals there. Plus it meant he could send out a signal of his own. 

He was almost to the lions when he saw the Queen headed in the same direction. Quickly, he hid behind a statue of a fish. Once the Queen had turned the corner, he carefully followed, swimming as quietly as he could. 

He hid once again behind some stone outcroppings. His eyes went wide as he saw a small group of Merisians gathered around the particle barrier of his lion. What was worse, was that one of them had a laser they were firing at the barrier! “Any luck?” The Queen asked, swimming up. 

Hunk calmed down as he felt a purr of reassurance from Yellow. These people weren’t going to put a dent in the shield. If anything, Yellow found it amusing. “Not…not as of yet, your majesty,” The Merisian with the laser said. “We’ve tried a number of traditional weapons, but have been hesitant to use anything bigger for fear of hurting the lion inside.”

“Use the larger ones,” The Queen said, “The Galra could get here at any point, and I want those shields down before they do.”

Hunk’s eyes went wide. That did it. He KNEW they couldn’t trust these people! They had sent out a beacon alright, a beacon to the GALRA to hand over their lions. Maybe they were doing it to keep their people safe, like Rax and Rolo and Nyma had, or maybe they were actively working WITH the empire. Either way, he needed to find Lance NOW. Presuming the Prince hadn’t DONE something with him. 

 

“AAAAAAUGH! NO! NO, NO STOP! STOOOP!”

“Calm down, you big baby.” With a ‘whir’ Prince Florian stopped the water cycle and they slowed to a stop. 

Lance clutched his chest, breathing heavily, “I thought we were going to hit that overhang!” He said. Florian laughed, “Seriously, how fast do these things GO?”

“Pretty fast,” Florian said, smirking, “Why, are you scared?” 

Lance squinted at him, clicking his tongue, “It sounds like you’re challenging me, Prince Charming.”

Florian gave a little shrug, “That all depends on if you take it.”

Lance thought about it for a minute, “Alright scoot out, my turn.” He said, pushing himself out of the passenger side. 

Florian hesitated, “Are—are you sure? These things can be hard to maneuver.”

Lance motioned for him to get out of the pilot’s seat. “Don’t worry about it. Back on Earth, I was a fighter pilot. Best in my class! Well, except for Keith, obviously.”

“Keith?” Florian asked as he slid into the passenger seat Lance had left. 

“Yeah,” Lance said, unaware of the dreamy sound in his voice, thinking back. “He’s the red paladin. He’s really good at these quick maneuvers and darting through asteroids and stuff like that. It’s actually really cool to watch, he makes flying look like an art!”

Florian did not seem as impressed as he sulked in the seat, “How interesting,” he said flatly. 

Lance did not hear the sarcasm in his voice. He wriggled himself into the pilots ‘chair.’ His leg felt weird in the space meant for a long fish tail, but he made it work as best he could. “Alright,” He said, getting settled, “So, how does it work?”

Florian leaned over as far as he could to wrap his arm around Lance’s waist and reach the controls from behind him. “First, you hit the little power button.” Lance went stiff under his touch, “Then you take the handle,” He took Lance’s other hand and wrapped it around said handle, “And you move. Here, forwards, backwards….up, and down.” The subtle movement of Florian’s hands taking the handle up and down sent a small shiver through Lance. “Got it?”

“Yeah…” He said, his voice drifting off, “Yeah, I think so.” With Florian’s hands still on him, Lance pushed the cycle forwards. “Hey, this actually isn’t that bad!”

Florian smiled, “I’m glad you like it! Why don’t you go a little faster?” If Lance wasn’t wearing a helmet he would have felt Florian’s breath on his ears. Lance sped up a little, swallowing to keep himself in check. 

“You know,” Lance said, guiding the cycle through the water in small circles, “This actually isn’t that different from our hovercycles and cars on Earth.”

“Really?” Florian asked. 

“Yeah!” Lance said, “I actually never had one, but Keith did, I got to ride it once while we were saving Shiro. One of the scariest moment’s of my life! He’s even more reckless than you.”

“Really.” Florian deadpanned. 

“Yeah,” Lance said, the dreamy air back in his voice as he glided through the water once again.

Florian huffed and stopped the watercycle. “Whoa!” Lance said as it sank to the ocean floor. Once it landed, Florian swam out of it, and made to get away, “Hey! Prince Charming, wait!” Lance called using his jetpack to keep up with him. 

“Stop calling me that!” Florian said, turning back to him angrily.

“What?” Lance said, “But…I thought you liked it!”

“I did,” Florian said, crossing his arms and closing himself off, “when I thought you were interested in me.”

Lance blinked, confused, “I…I was…I am!”

“Then why do you keep talking about Keith?” Florian asked.

Lance stared at him, the accusation shooting through him like a spear, “I…I do?”

“Yes!” Florian said, and at that point Lance knew merpeople mustn’t have tear ducts because Florian seemed to be practically crying, “So I just…I’m really confused. Is something happening between you two? Are you not interested in me at all? Because I’ve gotta say, I…” dropping his guard, Florian put a gentle hand on the side of Lance’s helmet, “I’m really interested in you…”

Lance was, perhaps not for the FIRST time, but for a remarkably low number-th time, struck silent. Florian looked at him earnestly as the water currents pushed them closer together. Unconsciously or not, he began wrapping his tail around Lance’s legs.

“GET YOUR SCALY CLAWS OFF OF HIM!” 

Florian released him on instinct as they both jerked to the sound. Hunk was careening towards them, using his jetpack for speed, and had his bayard out, pointed directly at Florian.

Lance leapt into action, getting in between Hunk and Florian, “Hunk, WAIT!”

Hunk didn’t shoot, but also couldn’t stop his momentum as he smashed into Lance. Florian, naturally born to the water, was able to just barely swim out of the way as the two tumbled through the open ocean. “Dude!” Lance said as they finally stopped spinning, “What is your PROBLEM!”

“He was going to eat you!” Hunk said, clutching his own head, “Or…something.”

“WHAT?” Lance said dumbfounded, “No he most certainly wasn’t! We were just talking!” 

“Well, he would have tried to imprison you eventually!” Hunk said, “They’ve betrayed us, just like I said.”

“What are you talking about, dude!” Lance said, glowering at him. 

“I overheard the Queen talking. She’s going to turn our lions over to the Galra. She’s been trying to break down the particle barrier!” 

“She WHAT?” Prince Florian said, looking almost angrier than Hunk. They turned to him, confused, “What EXACTLY did she say?”

Hunk squinted at him, not trusting him, “She said the Galra could get here at any moment, and that she wanted the lion’s particle barriers down before they do. I saw the laser one of her soldiers was using on the shield with my own eyes!”

Florian’s mouth became a thin line, “I should have known she would do this…” He muttered. He turned back to Hunk and Lance, “She hasn’t turned you over, but we still need to stop her. Come on, I’ll explain on the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda picture these mermaids a bit like Undyne but with a tail and coming in a variety of colors. and...no boobs. they're fish.
> 
>  
> 
> As for scheduling, as I said, I had once upon a time planned to write this whole fic before season 2, but that was clearly a pipe dream. I'll still be finishing it (don't you worry) but there are only a few chapters left. However, I would like to start writing more of my other two fics once again, so I'm going to try and schedule this out. 
> 
> in summary: only two (maybe three? but I doubt it) chapters left, but they'll come a bit slower cause other stuff.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins confront the Queen of the Merisians, but end up more confronting each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead! Finally got more into writing mode and managed to finish this.

“Hurry,” The Queen of the Merisian’s said, “We don’t have much time.”

Her chief engineer blasted the yellow lion’s energy barrier with his canons. The barrier wouldn’t budge, “I’m working as fast as I can, majesty.”

“MOTHER!”

The Queen, the engineers, and the royal guards turned to see Prince Florian and the Blue and Yellow Paladins careening towards them. 

The royal guards were instantly on alert, but she waved them down and allowed her son to approach. The Prince was bristling. “We talked about this,” He said, “We talked about this and decided this wasn’t the way.” 

“You do not make decisions on behalf of the Merisian people,” The Queen spat at her son, “I do. I have determined this is the only way to protect ourselves.” 

“Is that it, huh?” Hunk said, “Selling out innocent people to the Galra for your own protection?”

“Hunk, wait,” Lance said, trying to grab his arm, but Hunk shook him off.

“You know they’ll betray you, right?” Hunk demanded of the Queen, “They’re an empire, they won’t back down no matter what. Whatever you think you’re protecting, they’ll take it anyway.”

“Hunk, LISTEN Florian was trying to tell us something—“

“How dare you.” The Queen cut Lance off. “How dare you come to my kingdom and accuse ME of working with the Galra.”

“How dare you!” Hunk continued, “You welcomed us into your home, pretended to be our friends, and then tried to steal our lions? I heard you talking about the Galra coming. You would betray—“

“Stop it! Stop it BOTH of you!” Lance said, swimming to get in between them. “We’re not getting anywhere with you two yelling at each other. Now, please, your Majesty. If you’re not working with the Galra, then why are you trying to get into our lions?”

Hunk sputtered in disbelief that Lance would be willing to believe anything the Queen had to say at this point.

The Queen seemed to have a similar idea, crossing her arms and staring the Paladins down, silently. Florian, thankfully, swims up to the rescue. “She wants to use the lions AGAINST the Galra,” He said.

Lance turned to the Queen, frowning, “If that’s the case, why not just ask us for help? You know we fight the Galra. It’s kind of what we do.”

“Really, Paladin?” The Queen said, “Would you have come to our aid, no matter what?”

“Of course!” 

“Even at the sacrifice of other worlds?” She said, and he paused. “Maybe even your world, this, Ee-Arth.”

“Mother,” Florian said, “The universe is bigger than just our planet.”

“Our planet is what I’m responsible for,” She said, “And I will do anything within my power to protect it.”

“That’s selfish!” Hunk shouts, “The only chance any of us are going to have in a fight against Zarkon is if we do it together! Allied with many planets and—“

“And what support can we provide any resistance?” The Queen said, “We’re trapped here, under the water, a sitting target for when Zarkon attempts to invade. We need to protect ourselves.”

“But you can’t just—“

“Alright, alright.” Lance said, cutting Hunk off again. Hunk grimaced at his friend, “Look, there has to be some kind of way we can come up with a compromise.”

“Yeah, that’s IF they’re telling the truth about this,” Hunk grumbled. 

“Hunk,” Lance gave him a warning side-eye.

“No! I’m tired of it, Lance! I’m tired of you just blindly trusting in things and going into things without thinking things through! We have no reason to trust these people, we should get in our lions and leave now!” 

“We can’t just leave these people!”

“Really,” Hunk said, “Because they would have NO problems letting the rest of the universe die.”

“After helping the Balmerans, I thought you of all people would understand—“

“Shay and her people risked their lives to help us!” Hunk said, “And they were a lot worse of than these people.”

“It doesn’t matter what kind of people they are, we have an obligation to help them. Defenders of the universe ring any bells?” Lance swam up to get into Hunk’s face.

“So what, we’re just supposed to hand our lions over to them?” Hunk didn’t back down.

“I didn’t say that, I said we could compromise—“

“There’s nothing to compromise!” Hunk shouted, “We’ve wasted all this time here, our friends could be halfway across the galaxy in trouble, and you’re talking about negotiating with people we KNOW have been lying to us!” 

“Oh, right, because I’m just so stupid,” Lance’s voice raised to a shout, “I don’t know as much as Hunk, the great engineer, the one who’s always just so much smarter, the one who’s always right, and Lance is never right because he doesn’t know anything!” 

“What? What does that have to do with anything? I’m ALWAYS the one who follows you, you always treat me like I’m your goddamn sidekick, following you on all your little adventures—“

“I pushed you because you’re always too scared to do anything! You’d have never joined the fighter class if it wasn’t for me! You’d have never gone into space, joined Voltron, NONE of it, if it wasn’t for me!” He emphasized his point with a shove on Hunk’s shoulders. 

“I wouldn’t have gotten into nearly as much trouble, either!” Hunk shoved him back, but due to the rules of physics, Lance’s small form was pushed further back. “I’m tired of being your mother, always having to get you out of whatever stupid situation you’ve gotten yourself into,” Hunk hardly knew what he was saying at this point, just spewing out all the ammo he had against his best friend, knowing what he said would hurt, “because you don’t think! You don’t think of the consequences, Lance, and yeah, I AM smarter than you, I—“

That was it, that was the nerve to hit to set Lance off. Lance launched himself at him, the two of them brawling in the middle of the ocean, in front of the Merisian royals.

The Merisians looked to one another, unsure of what to do. To be fair, neither Hunk nor Lance particularly knew what they were doing either, just fighting, grappling with one another. Hunk was stronger, by far, but Lance was slippery and nimble, able to squeeze out of whatever hold Hunk put him in. 

Florian moved forward, ready to pull the two apart, but his mother stopped him, letting the paladins work themselves out. She called her guard over, ready to arrest the both of them so she could continue working on the lions, when a small Merisian shouted at them, swimming down from the surface, “Your majesty! Your majesty! It’s the Galra!”

Hunk and Lance froze, the water currents carrying them through their last motions until they separated and stopped. 

The small Merisian swam for them as fast as her little flippers could carry her, “The Galra! They’re here! They brought water ships!”

There was a moment of silence, and then, the Queen shouted, “Battle stations!” And everyone scurried. 

Hunk and Lance shared a look, and then swam to their respective lions. Hunk pushed away the engineer who had been trying to drill into Yellow’s particle barrier. The particle barriers went down, and the paladins swim into their respective lions, taking off towards the surface.

“Galra ships have already breached the water,” Lance said, “We have to stop them before they reach the city.”

“Ugh,” Hunk said, “I’ve lost so much maneuverability down here! I’m like a tank, I can go forwards, but the second I need to turn it takes forever.”

“Really?” Lance said, his own lion spinning around, “I feel like I have MORE maneuverability in the water. It’s like Blue’s moving with the currents…”

They intercepted the first of the Galra fleet. The Blue Lion jumped from ship to ship, taking out their defenses. Hunk shot lasers at them, but once they were past him, there was nothing he could do. “Yeah, well,” Hunk said, “I don’t know how much help I’m going to be in this battle.”

“Try to push past them and get to the air,” Lance said, “We’ll flank them, and you can herd any ships that go past you straight into me.”

Hunk’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s…actually a really good idea.”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

They were both silent as Hunk did as instructed, pushing past the oncoming Galra ships until the yellow lion breached the surface, finally free and ready to destroy the ships as they came. 

They fought in sync, but the silence was getting eerie between them. Pidge, Keith, Shiro? It wasn’t surprising if they were quiet, even during a fight. Hunk and Lance? It was unheard of.

Hunk couldn’t take it. “I don’t think you’re stupid,” he said as he fought.

There was silence on the other end. Hunk swallowed, continuing to fight, but waiting patiently. 

“How heartwarming,” Lance finally said, and he could see the outline of the blue lion below the surface. 

“I mean it, Lance,” Hunk said, “Yeah, I’m…I’m book smarter, but that’s just with like, engines and stuff. You’re plenty smart on tactics and…and yeah, sometimes you’re too trusting, but that’s also what makes you a good friend.” Hunk sighed, “You’re my best friend, Lance. I’m…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things.”

More silence. Hunk grimaced, wanting to say more, but he had said his piece. It was Lance’s turn. 

Finally, a sigh came from the other side, “I don’t think of you as my sidekick.” 

Hunk was mostly just glad Lance was talking to him and not yelling, but then the words sunk in a moment later. “You don’t?”

“Of course I don’t!” Lance said, “I…I kinda actually thought YOU thought I was your sidekick.”

“Really?”

“Of course!” Lance said, “Like you said, you’re the smart one. I’d push because…because I thought if I did, I could be on your level.”

“You’re already on my ‘level,’ Lance,” Hunk said, “We…we have different skills, sure, and…we’re going to disagree sometimes, but neither of us is ‘better’ than the other. We’re equals, we’re…we’re partners.”

He heard something like a sniffle. Finally, Lance appeared on his monitor. His eyes had tears in the corners. “That’s all I ever wanted,” Lance said. Hunk smiled at him. “I love you, man.”

“I love you too, Lance,” Hunk said.

Lance beamed at him. Then, the blue lion shook violently, and the visual screen cut out. “Lance?” Hunk shouted. He turned back towards the water, he couldn’t see any sign of the lion below, “Lance!”

“I’m okay!” Lance’s voice came through, filled with static. “The Merisians are here, fighting with us!” 

Hunk looked down, and he saw the Merisians in their speeders breaching the surface of the water like flying fish, before dropping back down, and sending the Galra ships fleeing back into the air. Hunk smiled and was glad to intercept all the ships as they came, sending them in turn back to the water. 

The water was burning with the wreckage of Galra ships and Merisian speeders floating on the surface of the water. Hunk saw something that looked like a corpse, but he didn’t want to think about whether it came from his allies or his enemies. 

It was all going fine, or, as fine as battles went, when Yellow sent him a message. “Lance,” Hunk said, “There’s another Galra ship incoming. A big one.”

“How big?”

“One of their warships definitely. Yellow says its been modified, though. It looks like its designed for water travel, same as these smaller ones.”

Lance cursed under his breath, “We’re holding our own here, but barely. If that ship makes it down here—”

“We’re screwed,” Hunk finishes for him. 

Lance sighs. “I’m going to leave the under water battle to the Merisians. You and I have to go intercept that ship in Space, stop it before it can even reach the planet.” 

“You got it.”

Blue shot up out of the water, and together they flew up into the atmosphere (taking out as many galra ships as they could reach while they were at it) until they made it into Space. “You weren’t kidding,” Lance said, “That is a big ship.”

“Told you.” 

They both swallowed. A lot of emotions had just been had, but there was one thought overwhelming them right then: They might not make it out of this. “Hey Hunk,” Lance said, “Partners?”

“Partners,” Hunk agreed, readily, and they stormed forward, engaging the ship. 

They flanked the ship, biting into the hull and using every laser in their arsenal. They each weathered more than their fair share of lasers. Hunk tried to put himself more in harms way, just because he knew his armor could take it, but it wasn’t enough. 

A well placed Galra shot sent Hunk spiraling, and he felt his gut coming up as he spun out of control. “HUNK!” He heard in his comm, and he was ready to say he was okay, even if it was a lie, but he was having enough difficulty just keeping steady. “Hunk, come on, answer me!”

“Lance!” Hunk managed to cry out. Something else was coming in on sensors, bigger even than the ship they were facing. Oh god, they couldn’t take on another thing.

A portal formed in front of them, and a ship came through. Their ship. Lion Castle. 

Lance laughed in relief at seeing three lions, red, black, and green, fly towards them. “Lance? Hunk?” Shiro said over the speakers, “Are you both okay?”

“Okay is a bit of a relative term!” Hunk said back, “We could appreciate some help!”

“You got it,” Keith said. 

With that, they formed the most powerful weapon in the universe.

Voltron.

 

After the battle, they separated to go down and meet with the Queen of the Merisians. Lance and Hunk gave them a debrief as they went down. Prince Florian was at the head of the line of Merisians, who were recovering from the battle. 

Shiro stepped up, “Thank you for looking after our paladins,” he said to the Queen. 

She looked awkward. Florian gave her a nudge. “We thank you, as well, Voltron, for saving us from the Galra.”

Shiro nodded, “You helped too.” He looked to the side, “Our Yellow Paladin had an idea that you may be interested in.”

Hunk stepped, or, rather swam forward. “Well, I got the idea from the Galra warships. If we can use some of the fallen ones here to modify your speeders, we could come up with a way to allow you to travel into the air, or even space. That way, you could become part of the Voltron Alliance, as well as better protect your planet.”

The Queen’s eyes went wide, “That…that would be very helpful, paladin. We would appreciate that.” She nodded at her engineers. “Our engineers will assist you in whatever you need. 

Hunk nodded. He and Pidge followed the engineers over to the wreck. 

Florian and Keith both swam over to Lance. “Lance, you okay?” Keith asked. He had gotten a bit roughed up in the battle.

Lance nodded, “Prince Florian, this is the red paladin, Keith,” He said, “Keith, the Prince.”

Florian scanned Keith up and down. “You’re a lucky man, Keith.” He said.

Keith frowned, confused. Lance, meanwhile, blushed and wandered away. 

He used his rockets to make it directly over to Hunk. Hunk was already pulling apart a Galra ship with Pidge and the engineers, but he turned right as Lance swam up. 

Lance wanted to say something, something to confirm their friendship, something to tell him sorry, tell him how important he was to him, tell him…something. But he couldn’t find any words that would encapsulate that. Hunk seemed to be facing the same struggle. 

Hunk finally swam up to him, and he wasn’t sure who started it, but a moment later they were hugging tightly. 

Lance squeezed him around the middle, trying to say everything he needed to without saying anything. Hunk did the same in turn, slightly cutting off Lance’s air supply. “Hey, uh, Lance,” Hunk said, “You know I love you, but…”

“Every part of you is hurting too?”

“Why the hell does piloting put such a strain on us?” Hunk said pulling away. “I feel like no matter how much I train, it still hurts.”

Lance laughed. “You need any help here?”

He looked back to Pidge, “I think we got it for now,”

“Oh thank goodness,” Lance said, “I know nothing about that stuff.” 

Hunk chuckled. “I’ll see you back at the ship?”

“You got it. Laundry ball?”

“Sounds like fun.”

“Awesome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter, but an Epilogue will be put up later today! Thank you all so much for reading!


	9. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> because I DID put this work down as keith/lance

Lance and Keith were dating. 

Hunk was shocked at first, mostly because he didn’t realize Lance could keep a secret from him. But he calmed down when Lance told him he had kept the secret because they started dating when he found out Keith’s Galra secret, and he didn’t want to betray Keith’s trust. 

Oh, yeah, also, Keith was a Galra. 

Hunk was really happy for Lance. He could see Keith was good for Lance. 

But, it did mean Lance spent a lot of time going to be with Keith rather than playing with Hunk. Which was fine! Hunk understood, new relationships and all that. But still. 

He sighed, while he was cooking. He wanted to make cookies for everyone. 

Little did he know that Lance was sighing too as he knitted with Keith laying next to him. “What’s up?” Keith asked.

“What do you mean?” Lance asked in return. 

“You keep sighing.”

Lance shrugged and shook his head, “I’m just breathing.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “If you wanna go do something else, I’ll understand. I can go find Shiro or Pidge or something.”

“Huh?” Lance said, turning, “No, no, you don’t have to do that, I’m happy to just be here with you.” He leaned over and kissed Keith’s cheek.

The kiss made Keith smile, and he lay back down, gently pressing into Lance’s back. 

Then Lance sighed again.

Keith rolled his eyes and sat up. “Hey Lance? Can I talk to you for a second?”  
Lance frowned down at him, “Yeah, of course, what’s up?”

Keith looked off to the side, “I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but…I’ve been worried about Hunk. He told me not to tell you, but he’s been feeling really down lately.”

Lance’s eyebrows shot up, “What?”

Keith nodded, not looking in Lance’s eyes. “I know, I was surprised too. Maybe you could go down and check up on him.”

Lance probably didn’t mean to shoot up as fast as he did, but Keith couldn’t help but smile at the eagerness. After all, his deep friendships with people were part of what Keith liked about him. “You know what, I think I’d better. I’ll go down for just a bit and check in on him, I’ll be right back.”

“Or you could stay with him, he probably needs it,” Keith said. 

Lance nodded, “Yeah, he probably does. See you!”

Keith laughed to himself as Lance ran out the door. He turned on his comm. “Hey Hunk?” He said into them. 

It took just a moment for Hunk to respond, “Keith? Everything okay?”

“No, its not,” Keith said, “It’s Lance, I’m really worried about him. He told me not to tell you, but he’s been feeling really down lately.”

 

Lance ran into the kitchen just as Hunk was coming out, and the force of the collision knocked Lance to the ground. “Lance!” Hunk said, offering him a hand to help him up. “Are you okay?”

“Are YOU okay?” Lance asked.

“Well, you’re the one who fell to the ground just now.”

“Oh. Right,” Lance said, picking up his needles. “I just…came to see if you could use some company.”

Hunk smiled at him, “You know, I really could, I found some ingredients that I’m trying to make into cookies.”

“That sounds great!” Lance said, taking a seat by Hunk as Hunk resumed pounding the ‘dough.’

Hunk looked over, “You making a new scarf for Keith?” He asked.

Lance shook his head, “Nah, I’ll get to that at some point. This is a sweater, I’m making them for everyone.” He said. He paused a moment. “This first one will be yours.”

Hunk paused and smiled, “I look forward to it.”

Lance smiled, counting stitches and resuming his work, and the best friends worked side-by-side in peace.

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think! My tumblr is http://dork-empress.tumblr.com/


End file.
